Broken Healing
by Paravie
Summary: Just months after the end of the war, Zuko and Katara's relationships fall apart. They end up lost in the woods together. Slight Kataang, Maiko, Sukka, and Zutara.
1. Cracks

**Just a little something that came to my mind. Based a few months after the end of the war. First few chapters will be the fall of their relationships.**

**I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**~.~.~.~**

Everything was perfect. The war was over, the Nations were rebuilding, and Aang had his girl. All was going as smoothly as it could ever have been.

But sometimes, perfection cannot last.

The changes came slowly; so slowly, neither of them noticed it. Aang was away more and more, doing his duties as the Avatar. Katara was wrapped up in heading the openings of waterbending schools all over the world.

Soon, though, Katara began to notice. She realized she couldn't remember how long it had been since Aang had done something unexpected and sweet, like he used to do all the time at the beginning of their relationship. She tried doing it herself; invited him on a date, only to be stood up because of some 'emergency' meeting. She tried giving him flowers, only to have him forget them on the table when he had to rush off.

The hollow feeling inside her chest grew with each passing month. Sure, Aang still told her how much he loved her, but she could barely utter the words back. Sure, they kissed after an acknowledged long time away from one another, but she couldn't feel it anymore. Soon, she felt like an empty shell, staying with him only because she had to. She was the Avatar's greatest accomplishment, a trophy girlfriend. If she left, it could break the balance they had worked so hard to achieve. So she stayed.

Aang didn't notice the lifeless mess that had replaced his beloved waterbender. He thought things were perfect, that they would never change. Katara was his, and he loved showing her off; but he would do so in the safest way possible. He was terrified of her being hurt, so he protected her with all the power given to him. He didn't know how much it angered Katara to be treated like fragile glass, like one screw-up would crack her, nor did he realize he was being so overprotective.

All the cracks that had formed in their relationship were breaking Katara. Still, she kept them hidden, only for the sake of the world. Aang would lose his mind if he lost the thing that he had strived so hard to get.

But hiding can only last so long.

On the day of Sokka and Suki's long-awaited wedding, she broke. It wasn't anyone specifics' fault, it just didn't work. Aang's extraordinary capability to understand didn't seem to be able to comprehend Katara's tears that day. Leaving the entire wedding party shocked and soaking after their biggest fight ever, she fled deep into the forests of Kyoshi Island.

There, shivering and crying, was where Zuko found her.


	2. Slowly, Quietly, Calmly

**Thank you so very much for all the follows on this story!**

**I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**~.~.~.~.~**

Everything was perfect. The war was over, the Nations were rebuilding, and Zuko had his throne. All was going as smoothly as it could ever have been.

But sometimes, perfection cannot last.

Mai loved Zuko. Ever since she was a child, she had been infatuated with him. That infatuation had slowly, quietly, calmly evolved as they grew. She didn't need pretty things or uplifting words, she just needed him. Being in his arms was enough for her.

But slowly, quietly, calmly, she came to the realization that Zuko did not love her.

He was as passionate as she was withdrawn, yet no passion surfaced when they were together. He kissed her, hugged her, was the perfect boyfriend, yet no burning desire was detectable behind the actions. He was the center of her world, but she was not the center of his.

She didn't cry at night, didn't try changing anything, no trying to provoke any emotion. She didn't blame herself, didn't even blame him. She just accepted it.

She was content to wait for the inevitable. She was perfectly fine with the knowledge that they could not last. So when the day came when all they could do was stare blankly, quietly, calmly at nothing, she was not surprised. She wasn't angry when he said they had to part, didn't share his confusion about where everything went wrong.

They had fizzled out, slowly, quietly, calmly. They were too different to be compatible; one too much of a fighter to let go until the very end, one too comfortable with letting go when it finally came. Their quiet breakup was mutual and without harsh feelings to the other. They remained friends, but Zuko still felt a pang of regret and longing and still wondered where it went wrong. Neither heart was broken, but both had grown numb.

When they both received invitations to Sokka and Suki's wedding, they traveled together without any drama.

No, the drama came when Aang and Katara showed up. Zuko couldn't help but notice how much the blue-eyed waterbender had changed. She seemed lifeless and broken, while her 13-year-old boyfriend was as happy as ever.

So when the fight started, Zuko couldn't say he was completely surprised by it. He was surprised, however, at the Avatar's lack of understanding and how oblivious he seemed to how much his Forever Girl had changed. She was no longer the same person she had been when the war had ended barely a year before, and neither was the world. None of Team Avatar was the same.

When Katara froze Aang to the roof of the pavilion, the young boy nearly entered the Avatar State out of pure frustration. He couldn't understand how or why his perfect life was falling apart in front of his eyes. Because of his naivety, he hadn't seen how slowly, quietly, calmly his girlfriend had broken.

When everyone else ended up soaking wet after she melted the ice to slam him into the ground, he lost it completely. Screaming and crying, Aang and Katara had a full-out Agni Kai with water. The fight finally finished when Toph, the only one of the small wedding party who wasn't standing stock-still, raised a wall of rock between them.

Katara screamed one last insult at Aang before telling him it was over and fleeing into the woods. The dumbfounded Avatar and wedding party alike only watched as she ran. Finally, after a few minutes, Aang spun his glider and flew off in hopes of patching what could never be fixed. The rest of the group organized searches and headed off.

Zuko and Toph, teamed up together, were the ones to find her. The knowledgeable earthbender hung back and sent Zuko ahead knowing only him and him alone could heal Katara's broken soul. Slowly, quietly, calmly, it had been broken by her obsessive loyalty to Aang. But slowly, loudly, passionately, and with understanding, it could be healed.

Lying beneath a rock, shivering and sobbing, was where he found her.


	3. Forever

Her laughter could brighten his heart, no matter how dark it was. His eyes could bring her back, no matter how far she was.

It took Aang a long time to recover. Once the fog of fake happiness lifted from his mind, he saw Katara for how she felt. His childhood infatuation he mislabeled as love faded very, very slowly. Many late-night talks with Roku majorly helped his own healing process.

Katara and Zuko found each other that night and for the rest of forever. He found her broken, she found him numb. Together, with a promise of forever both were terrified to break, they healed. Katara never wanted to break again, and Zuko never wanted to feel that numb for the rest of his life. He wanted to feel the fire Katara lit in his chest forever, and she wanted to fuel the flame he had always lit in her in a new way.

After some time, Aang realized he didn't want to lose Katara. Not just as his girlfriend, but as his friend. Even while he was getting over her, he still wanted her in his life. So nearly 7 months after their nasty break-up, they spoke for the first time. It was a very long, very painful conversation, but it had to happen. At the end of it, after many tears and confessions, they parted friends again. Aang was still hurt, badly, but she was back in his life, and that eased the burden a bit.

He held no ill-will against Zuko; it was his own entire fault he had lost Katara. He played the 'What If?' game for a few months, but gave that up when he realized how counterproductive it was. Even if he had tried harder, even if he had put more effort into what he took for granted, he had a sinking feeling he would have lost her eventually anyway.

Mai didn't hate Katara or Zuko. The opposite, she congratulated their relationship with a rare real smile. Zuko quietly thanked her for her support of the girl of whom his love burned stronger than his love for her. Because deep in his heart, he would always love Mai, but that love couldn't hold a candle to the uncontrollable wildfire he felt for Katara.

Far in the future, they laughed about their hesitant promises of forever, because they had done it. With everything against them, and everything for them, they had done it.

But forever was a long time away.


End file.
